Spike and wail machine



UNTTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM HATCH, OFMEDFORD, MASSACHUSETTS.

SPIKE AND NAIL MACHINE.

To all whom, t may concern.'

Be it knownfthat I, WILLIAM HATCH, of Medford, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented a new and useful improvement in machinery for manufacturing spikes, nails, or variousk other contrlvances of like character whichv may be successively made by the same; and I 4do hereby declare that the nature of my invention and the manner in which it operates are fully set forth and described in the' following specification, accompanying draw-v ings, letters, igures, and references thereof.

My machine is calculatedy to perform' pressing down two opposite sides of each l ofsaid lengt-hs, to an angular point, of

forming a head upon theend of each length,

oppoite to that on which the point is performed, and `,finally discharging the spikev (when thus completed) from the machine.

For the purpose of particularly explaining the aforesaid machinery Ifvshall proceed to describe the several parts composing it in the following order viz: First, those parts which receive the spike rod and point it. Second,those parts which hold it firmly and make a head upon it. Third,

that part by-'which it is discharged from the machine. y Fourth, that by which certain parts of the mechanism are protected from injury or strain arising from the operation of heading the spike. Fifth, that part by which the spike'is separated or cut from the rod from which it is made.

Of the aforesaid drawings Figure lv represents a top view of my improved machine for making spikes.V Fig. 2 a side'elevationL- Fig. 3 a Vertical and longitudinalv section taken through theswaging. roll and dies to be hereinafter described, andFig. 4 isa ver-` tical and transverse section taken through the said roll and dies, the said rolly being moved forward so as to be between' thel middle of the saiddies. tion of the front end ofthe machine.`

Fig- 5 is an eleva- Such other figures as may be necessary to af full description and representation' of the various parts will be hereinafter' referred to' and properly supported within a frameB so a's'to admit of itsr being moved forward y and back in a longitudinal direction. The carriage is made to' slide to and fro between guideposts C Cbolted tothe frame B and tothe' bed plate D, uponl which the whole' machinery is sustained'.

Aings H I-I applied to the tops of suitable lstaiidardsl raised upon the bed piece D.' 'The saidi shaft hasa driving' pulley I placed 4onone end,`and a crank or crank pulleyV F .aflixed upon its opposite end. To the said crank'v pulley and the carriage A a connecting rod' E is: jointed in such manner that when the shaft G isZ revolved it will impart a reciprocating rectilinearl movement to the ,carriage A.

I shall now proceed" to describe the meehanism bywhifch the spike rod* is moved and pointed; Fig. 6* denotes a horizontal sec- @tion4 of the'hlock/or die d which receives the spikev rod when'it is'ntroduce'd into t-he"machine, and upon which the said rod rests when a spike isV being formed'. The said block isI made somewhat longer than' the length of the spike to be made upon' it, and it has a' rightfangular shoulder or` space f Another block or holding die g operates in connection with the block. (cl) andl forms with the shoulder the boundary of the'space within which the spike rodv is inserted before' it is operated on by the mechanism which' points" andle heladsit.

The front end*I of the carriage A sustains two" rollers a, I), the one' being placedi di# rectlylover th'e`other'and with its periphery contact with that ofl the other. The l'ow'er' off th'ev said" rc` llersvr is" intended to' be" Yfrolled over the red hot spike rod, represented at c in' Figsi 3, and'k 6, by red lines, Sand to press it down upon the bed' piece Z landl to r'oll it into the angular shape re- `(piiredto produce a joint*- upon it. rllhe bed Z- is shaped upon itsfupper surface to cor-l respondwithnone of the curvedvsidesiof the spike.v` In order to form the upper curved side ofthe spike, the roller (a) is made to rolliii'contact with a stationary curved surfa'ce'or cam" plane (e) shaped"longitudinallyV vsoa'sto correspondy with the upper curved surface of the" spike.` Thereforel whenI the carriage A is'moved forward the roller (a) in mov-ing overl or',y a",gainst`v the saidV curvedv 'planeti (e) will be depressed and will depressl 110 G is a horizontal shaft supported in bear# I cut down init as represented'k in Figs. 5, 6. f

the other roller (79) iii a corresponding vdegree and thus in connection with the curved bed (c7), the roller (79) will give the angular point to the spike. When the. spike rod is introduced into the machine it is passed into the space (f) of the bed (d) until its end meets or abuts against the frontend of a stop lever (71,) which is arranged as seen in the drawings, and turns vertically upon a fulcrum at (i). It has a rectangular space 2f see Fig. 7 (which denotes a top View of the lever (71,) as detached from the mechanism) cut through it in a vertical direction, through which space and another /c made through the bed plate D the spike drops after it has been hea-ded as will be hereinafter described. The stop lever (71,) is tilted upon its fulcrum (in order to raise its front end) by means of a cam or depression Z suitably formed or made upon the lower side of the carriage A, the said depression or cam being made to depress the rear end of the stop lever, and by so doing raise its front end after the carriage A has been drawn back far enough to remove the spike from the bed plate or die (d). The mode in which such removal is effected, will be hereinafter described.

The next parts of the mechanism to be explained are those by which the spike is grasped, gripped or held firmly, and headed. As soon as the point has been formed or made upon the spike (which previous to being pointed, has been separated from the spike rod, as will be hereinafter described) the holding block g is forced laterally against the spike rod and so as to compress or grip it firmly between it (the block g) and the shoulder of the rest block (d).

The mechanism by which the block g is moved toward and from t-he rest block (0l) is as follows. Toggle joints Z, Z, m m, or progressive levers are applied to the block g, and between it, and an abutting block 0, secured to the bed plate D, the said levers being properly jointed to the blocks g and o. They are operated by a connecting bar or rod p (jointed to them) and an eccentric or cam g, xed upon the shaft Gr, the rod p being so adapted to the eccentric that the latter will move it back and forth at proper times as it is revolved by the shaft G. Vhen the rod D is faced forward it causes the toggles Z m Z m to be brought into line with each other, and thereby move or crowd the block g against the spike rest-ing upon the block adjacent to it, and thus holds the spike firmly between the two while it is headed. The rear part of the space within which the spike rod is introduced, terminates in a square cavity r, which in its transverse section is of the shape of that of the head to be formed on the spike. A small piston or heading tool s is fixed to the carriage A, as seen in Fig. 3, the said tool being made to conform to the cavity. When the carriage A is moved forward far enough the piston s is carried into the space 1 and in contact with the end of the spike rod and upsets it and forms the head. The spike rod is held down upon the bed (d), during the operation of heading by means of a die or frame t which is placed upon the carriage A, and so as to play somewhat loosely up and down thereon. In other words, the carriage A passes through a passage u made through the die t, which passage is deep enough to admit of a slight vertical movement of the die. The die also slides back and forth upon the carriage A, and is attached to it by two toggle joints w m. The top part of the die is made as an inclined plane as represented at fv, and when the said die is forced forward to the extent of its motion, the said inclined plane o meets another and counter inclined plane secured to the underside of the top plate y of the frame B as seen in Fig. 3. The plane a forces the die t down upon the spike, the lower part of the die being shaped so as to correspond with the curve or shape of the upper side of the spike. It is calculated that when the die t is forced down upon the spike resting upon the bed d, and comes to a stationary position, a small rectangular notch s (see Fig'. 3) made in the rear part of the lower side of it, shall come directly over the space 71, and in connection with said space complete the matrix, for the formation of the head of the spike. The two toggles, fw, m, make a very obtuse angle to each other, in a vertical plane; their central joint being made to rest upon a small project-ion a as seen in Fig. 3. After the die t has been thrown forward by the carriage A as far as is possible for it to be moved, it becomes necessary that the carriage A should still continue to advance in order to carry the plunger s into the space or matrix i" and by so doing make the head upon the spike. The said advancement of the carriage A is permitted by the toggles w, m, which are thrown upward by the force which impels the carriage A forward. During the retraction of the carriage, the toggles or links fw, fall Idown upon it and draw the die t from over the bed d. The spike is discharged or drawn out of the bed d, by means of the notch z, of the die t, the front part of which (notch), rests against the back part of the upper portion of the head. When the spike is extracted by the notch, it falls through the spaces z" and and out of the machine.

The next improvement to be ldescribed is that by which we are enabled to prevent the mechanism from being strained or injured during the operation of heading the spike.

In Figs. l, 2, 3, b denotes a short lever turning upon a fulcrum c supported by a fixed standard d. The front endy of the lever is beveled off or makes an acute angle with the lower edge of it, as seen in F ig. 8, which denotes a vertical and longitudinal section of the lever, and the support or bearing H in front of it. The said bearing or support rests against the vertex of the angular end of the lever, which vertex is arranged somewhat below the fulcrum of the lever. The mechanism by which the box or bearing or standard, upon which it is sustained, is conned to the bed plate D, should be such as will permit of a slight longitudinal movement of the standard or box either toward or from the lever b. is hung upon the rear end of the-lever b. It may sometimes happen that there may be a surplus of metal within the matrix 1, or more therein than is absolutely necessary for the formation of the head of the spike. When such occurs the head 'would be made somewhat thicker than it otherwise would be. This extra thickness would create an extra strain upon the mechanism by which the heading operation is performed, and n order that no injury might result to it, in consequence of such strain, the counterpoise e should be of such weight as to hold t-he lever down until the head of the spike has been formed, and thus permit the extra strain to operate upon the box H in such manner as to move it back a little. lVhen the box so moves back, the rear end of the lever ZJ will rise upward.

The next part of the mechanism is that by which the spike is separated from the rod from which it is made. This consists A weight eI The said plate Z2 is sustained at its rear end upon a standard m projecting upward from thecarriage A, so that when the said carriage is moved to and fro it imparts a simultaneous movement to the plate Z2. By such movements of the plate Z2 the cutters are opened and closed.

Having thus described my invention that which I claim is l. The combination of the holding die t with the carriage A, in the manner set forth, whereby the said die and carriage are operated together as above specified'.

2. I also claim the combination vof the weighted lever with the box or support H of the shaft G, the same being for the purpose ofjpreventing injury to the mechanism by extra strain occasioned in the formation of the head of a spike, as above represented.

In testimony that the foregoing is a true` this tenth day of March in the year eighteen j hundred and forty six.

I WILLIAM HATCH. Witnesses:

R. H. EDDY, RUGGLEs STARK. 

